The Other Side of the Law

by Herr Director

Breaking the Bank

The Royal Canterlot Bank was just closing up for the night. The tellers left for their homes and the guards headed to the break room. Nopony had ever even attempted to steal from the Royal Canterlot Bank, and in the eyes of the guards, nopony ever would. Ironically, just two blocks away, in a small carriage, a mob boss, a corporal, and the Captain of the Guard, planned to do just that.

The three stallions sat around a pop up table with a map, and equipment on it. The leader, Deadshot, pointed to the map and the gear.

"Alright guys," he said. "Let's recap the plan"

"Okay," Shining began. "While Flash holds our getaway carriage, you and I go to the roof and drop in through the skylight here." He pointed to the lobby on the map. "We go to the security room and turn off the cameras."

Deadshot took over. "Very good. Then we block off the door to the break room to delay the guards if they catch on, and blow open Blueblood's vault. We grab the bits and come back here through the back streets. Then?" he looked to Flash.

"You guys drop down into this ally where I will be waiting to take us to the safe house." Flash explained. "When we're in the clear, we take this back to the safe house in Ponyville."

"Fantastic guys." Deadshot congratulated the two. "You guys are ready to go. It's like you were born for this moment."

"Heh, yeah" Shining laughed halfheartedly. He did not feel proud of himself at all and his moral compass was spinning out of control. Is this really my true calling? He thought. Was I meant to be a criminal like my cousin all this time?

"Alright." Deadshot's voice interrupted Shining's thoughts. "Let me explain what we're going in with." He placed three guns, three fedoras, an syringe, and two ropes onto the table. "These," he said, gesturing to the hats, "have been enchanted by me so that we can speak to and hear each other when we are split up." Shining laughed.

"Fedoras? Really?" he guffawed only to receive a sharp jab in the side by his cousin.

"I don't remember asking you." Deadshot said coldly. He then moved on to the guns. "Salt & Wheatson .357 Revolvers. Six shots in each, plus three speed re-loader clips. That's twenty-four shots total, so make them count. If all goes well, we won't need them." He picked up the ropes. "You and I," he spoke to Shining specifically, "need these to drop through the skylight into the bank, and to get back out." Lastly, he held up the syringe and turned to Flash. "This is adrenaline," he said. "When we get in the carriage, pop the cap and inject it into your leg. It makes you run faster. and you won't get tired so easy."

"Got it." Flash affirmed.

"Good." Deadshot replied. He noticed Shining's look of uncertainty. "What's the matter Shiny?" he taunted. "Getting cold fetlocks now?"

"It's just hard for me to go through this change, okay?" Shining Armor defended himself. Deadshot held up his hooves.

"Hey, don't blow a fuse," he said. "We just can't afford you backing out on this now."

"Yeah, don't worry Captain," Flash joined in. "Once we do this, we'll be on our way to finding Princess Cadence."

Shining smiled faintly. "You guys are right. I can get through this. I mean, I've been in the heat of battle and still got out with my head in one piece."

"Atta boy there Shiny," Deadshot thumped Shining on the back. "That's what I need to hear. Now we we need to keep our act together. We'll move out soon." He paused. "One last thing. I gotta disguise you two." His horn lit up. Shining felt a strange sensation come over him. His flesh and fur tingled harshly. It slightly hurt, but the feeling soon passed. When Shining looked down at his hooves, he saw no change.

"Uh, did it work?" he asked. "I don't feel any different." He looked over at Flash to see that he had changed.

Flash now looked different. His coat was green and his mane was dark yellow. His voice had gotten slightly deeper.

"You sure look different, sir." Flash said. "For one, your coat is cream colored, and your mane is red. You also sound younger." To Shining, his voice sounded the same. To the others, it was higher. Deadshot, surprisingly, looked the same, he apparently saw no need to use the spell on himself

"Everypony thinks I'm dead," he explained. "I don't need a disguise." He took out a cigar case and offered them to the two other stallions, who both refused. Shrugging, he took a cigar and lit it. "Now ready up guys," he said between puffs of smelly cigar smoke. "Tonight, we make history!"

About a half hour later, Deadshot and Shining had moved up behind the bank. A maintenance ladder led up to the roof of the bank.

"Testing, one two three, testing." Deadshot spoke into the brim of his hat "Flash, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear!" came the reply.

"Good." He nodded to Shining. "You wanna go up first?"

Shining grabbed onto the rungs of the ladder and climbed. The rungs were cold and bitter, and he wanted nothing but to let go in order to be free of the cold. Soon, however, he reached the top. The view of the plaza in front of the bank was pretty good. It was deserted, so they would not be seen. Moments later, Deadshot arrived alongside him with the ropes. He spit out the nub of his cigar and crushed it under his hoof

"Shiny," he said. "You do the honors and pop open the glass." Shining moved to the skylight. He found a latch on the side. When he unlocked the latch, he was able to open the glass window. Deadshot tied up the ropes to a secure spot and dropped them into the lobby inside. Again, Shining took point and descended into the bank.

The lobby was large, and dimly lit, most of the lights remained off after hours. Only two guards were there, and they were both snoring loudly, each in a very deep sleep.

I need to get the Lunar Guards in here, Shining thought. These guys can't stay awake!

He hit the floor with a soft 'thud' and slunk over to the shadows. Deadshot joined him, and the two ponies tip-toed (Shut up Lyra) over to the security office. Deadshot moved ahead, and opened the door. A solitary guard sat in a seat overlooking the monitors. He seemed to pay little attention.

"Let's take this sap out." Deadshot whispered. He moved slowly toward the guard

Don't kill him, don't kill him, please don't kill him. Shining thought frantically. Even though this guard was in the way of his new goals, Shining still was a good guy at heart. Deadshot took a mug from a table and levitated it over the guard's head, bringing it down with a 'clunk'. The guard gasped and then slumped down in his seat. Shining let out a breath of relief, seeing that the guard was still alive. Deadshot pressed a few buttons.

"Good news Shiny," Deadshot said. "The cameras are off and the guards are locked in the break room. Let's go before they escape."

In the break room, most of the guards were asleep on the couches, empty cider bottles in their hooves. The last three awake were playing cards. One laid down his cards.

"Full house!" one said. "Hand it in!"

"Not so fast." another piped up. He lay out his hand to produce a four of a kind.

"I can top you both." the last one spoke calmly as he revealed-

"No way!" the other guards said in unison. "A straight flush?"

"Come on dude, we know you cheated."

"Oh no, not this time, I swear."

"Fine. But I'm watching you next time." The other guards passed the third one the money.

"And the first thing I'm gonna spend it on is a round of drinks at the bar next door." he boasted. "Let's go, guys, we earned it." As he went to the door and tried to open it, the doorknob would not turn. "The hell?" The three tried busing it down together, only to attract the attention of the others.

"Hey, keep it down would ya?"

"This is serious, we're locked in!" The guards descended into a series of arguments and disagreements as they tried to open the doors.

As Shining and Deadshot made their way toward Blueblood's Vault, they passed the breakroom. Thumping and yelling could be heard from inside.

"That'll hold those lazy dolts for a while, right Shiny?" Deadshot laughed. His laughter was short lived as two more guards rounded the corner. They assumed combat poses.

"In the name of Princess Celestia, we order you to surrender," one threatened. "If you continue to resist, we will use deadly force."

Deadshot snarled, his face now contorted in anger. "You can't kill me." he said simply. He raised his pistol and fired two shots.

The guards fell to the floor, a new hole embedded in their skulls. Blood still spurted from the holes in bursts before slowing to a trickle. a pool began to form around their heads. Shining felt tears coming to his eyes. He turned away from his cousin and wept silently, as the tears left his face and splashed on the ground.

"It was either them or us." Deadshot spoke. His voice was devoid of emotion. "You honestly didn't expect to get through this whole thing with out killing anypony, did you?"

"But they were guards," Shining said, his voice shaking. "They had families. You don't know that like I do. Don't you have any empathy."

"Doesn't matter who they are," Deadshot explained. "When somepony wants you dead, the only thing you can do is replicate those feelings and beat them to it. That's how I see it" He frisked the guards' bodies and picked up a small object. It was the key to Blueblood's vault

"You never said anything about killing the guards to get a key!" Shining was mad, realizing he had been deceived

"Well I didn't wanna make you go all squeamish pansy-ass good guy on me." Deadshot walked past him towards the vault. "Now let's move on and pray that nopony else gets in our way, yeah?" Shining didn't say a word, but he trotted to catch up. The two had reached the vault. The door was made of stone and was very large. Deadshot took the ill gotten key and stuffed it into the lock. The vault door slowly opened. Inside, mountains of bits and precious stones were everywhere you could look.

"Holy crap..." Shining just stared at the treasure. He had known Prince Blueblood had a lot of money, but he never had any idea that it was this much. It was almost scandalous.

"Beautiful, ain't it?" Deadshot said, his trademark grin returning. "Just imagine how much is in the Princess' coffers." He took out a large bag and removed from it a few slightly smaller bags. "Take as much as you can. Fill up all the bags. Bits only, no gems or anything like that." Deadshot got to work right away. He shoveled money into his bag faster than Soarin could shove pie in his face. Which, for those who don't know, is pretty fast. Shining did the same, scooping bits into his bag at a fast pace. The two worked quickly until all the bags were full. Looking at the stash as a whole, you could barely tell if anything was removed from the hoard. They put all the bags into the large bag. Surprisingly, they all fit into the bag, which was not much bigger. Must be enchanted. Shining thought. which Deadshot placed on his back. He winced.

"Uh, Shiny?" he asked. "Do you know a spell that can make this lighter? The Enchantment already on it doesn't reduce weight."

Shining racked his brains for a moment, then cast his spell. His horn lit up, and the bag glowed blue for a moment, before the glow faded away. Deadshot gave him a hooves up. "Thanks Pally!" he grinned "Now let's get outta here before I have to shoot some more stiffs."

Shining exited the vault first, when he was assailed by a magical blast. His vision left him and colorful stars danced in front of his eyes. His hearing was fuzzy. He heard shouting, several loud pops and a few thuds. Hoofsteps thudded up to him. He was being dragged away.

When his senses returned, he was behind a desk. Deadshot was next to him, gun in hoof, looking over the desk. he noticed that Shining was awake.

"'Bout time," he said snidely. "Cut the pounds man, you weigh a ton." He looked over again. "We need to move before they send in another squad. Can you stand-"

"You killed an entire squad of soldiers!?!" Shining sat up in disbelief.

"Was a huge waste of bullets, I agree- oh, crap." A look of horror crossed Deadshot's face. "You've been undisguised." Shining tried to call his magic to renew his disguise, but nothing happened. Not a single spark of energy.

"I cannot use my magic." Shining said in shock. "None at all."

Deadshot helped him to his hooves. "Then let's get the hell out of here." The two ran out the back door. They were in the alley behind the bank again. However, Royal Guard carriages blocked all of the exits. Deadshot and Shining looked around. There was only one option. "Up and out Shiny." Deadshot began to climb up the ladder to the roof with Shining close behind.

The roof was wide open. In the distance, a squadron of Pegasi was visible, coming to take the two robbers away. Shining was dazed. What would they do now? Deadshot interrupted his pondering. He grabbed Shining's hoof and threw the two over the edge of the roof. They landed on another rooftop across the alley. It took Shining a moment to recover.

"What... the... hell!" he shouted. "At least tell me before we throw ourselves off the roof!"

"If I had said anything about it, you would have said no," Deadshot was already on his hooves and pulled Shining up again. "Now let's move."

The two galloped across the rooftops, jumping from building to building with a team of Pegasi in pursuit. Deadshot reached for his gun once more, but Shining stopped him this time.

"No!" Shining said urgently. "No more killing!"

"Okay," Deadshot said. "What's your plan."

"Just gimmie a sec."

"How 'bout I give you five before I cap these bastards." Shining's mind raced. Being a soldier meant knowing when not to kill, and how to do so while still mobilizing an enemy. Formulating a plan, Shining picked up a shingle from the roof and chucked it at a guard. It hit him square in the head, sending him to the roof and knocking him out. He was not dead.

"Shiny get ready!" Deadshot called. Here comes the jump." He spoke into his hat. "Flash, we're coming in hot, pop the roof of the carriage." They were nearing the end of the rooftop. "Shining, trust me this time." Deadshot's voice was now calmer and more reassuring.

"Okay, I'm ready." Shining said determinedly.

"Ready? Now!" The two jumped. The wind sailed though Shining's mane. His eyes were closed. With a thump, the two landed on the carriage seats. Shining opened his eyes. He let out a sigh of relief. He was safe now. Everything would be all right. Deadshot would take care of everything now. "Flash pop the syringe, now!" Flash didn't need to be told twice. He took the syringe and injected it into his leg. It hurt at first, but the pain went away as the adrenaline took over. With his new found strength, Flash galloped down the street faster and farther than the guards could even hope to catch up to. He was gone over the horizon... in a flash.

Ha ha, get it? Okay. Point taken. The author felt rather downtrodden that nobody thought his witty pun was funny. Part of him simply wished that someone in the comments section would tell him otherwise. Gloomily, he terminated the chapter, waiting to begin anew with another chain of events in the story, in the next chapter.

Author's Note:

What will the mobsters do next? Can Shining come to terms with his cousin's ruthless murder policy? Will the author get his computer back from Pinkie Pie? Will he make a pun that people will actually find remotely funny? All these questions will be answered in the next installment of "The Other Side of the Law"!

Comments

[The Great Derpsby]

Cadance will surely be thrilled to learn that her husband had a hoof in stealing and murdering for her.